A/N:
glorialopezgl534.03, Jodiemarie2910, Myrslayer, InHwa and the guest, thank you so much for reviewing and enjoying the last chapter!
The events have taken a seventeen-month leap in to the future, and this chapter will deal with a dream and a new demon named Gyeoul.
:)
Enjoy!
Orabeoni- is used by younger girls to their elder brothers in old dynasty.
Chima- traditional Korean skirt.
Hanja-name for the Korean traditional writing system consists of Chinese characters.
Chah jaesseo=found you.
Goshiwon- a really small apartment.
Spectre-A low ghost which doesn't have a sharp form.
Miesma-an unpleasant atmosphere, often including disagreeable smells and tastes.
Seventeen months later...
Chapter ten : A New Year For The Dead.
Yi Jeong was used to nightmares, but that particular dream was too strange, even to call as one.
...
...
It was too little for a room, with dusted shelves, a single candle and many other blurred objects surrounding him. The candle flame stood up and steady, despite the winds howling outside and banging on doors.
Pitter patter
Pitter patter...
Rain drops kept tapping on the windows as a thunderstorm blew outside. Despite the weather — like hot red ember from a dying campfire, sizzling in a light pour — So Yi Jeong — his face, his body and every part of him — burned. His heart drummed against his ears and sweat formed in beads on his forehead.
It was a familiar sensation for the famed Casanova. The 'strange' thing was what laid beneath him. Or more precisely, 'who' laid beneath him.
Ga Eulyang.
Yes. It was the same Ga Eulyang he knew. The soft features and coffee brown eyes —he couldn't have been mistaken. Besides, Yi Jeong was yet to know another woman with the same inexplicable yet strong aura of innocence.
It was Ga Eulyang. Her long dark hair laid scattered on the mattress. Her hands stretched out towards him. She was red, perhaps a little bit more, than himself.
Ga Eulyang sighed, and looked down at their bare bodies. Then looked up, firmly into his eyes. There shone excitement, and doubt, timidity, and confidence, and purity, and lust... all parading one after another.
Yi Jeong smiled. He leaned in and planted feathery kisses on her face — on her forehead, on her eyelids, on the tip of her nose, and on her lips.
"Saranhaeyo." He whispered to her ear.
"Nado, saranhaeyo." She whispered in return, and with one swift move, he marked her his.
He saw her face as she gasped and arched forward to grasp her breath. He saw a tear stream down, freely on her cheek.
The pattering stopped and the world went blank. Yi Jeong felt numb as he found himself, strangely again, staring at the single tear drop wetting the floorboards.
The fluid gradually darkened, until it was the colour of wet clay...
The dream cut off to actual wet clay, a lump of which, fiercely spun on a potter's wheel. Yi Jeong watched, as a boy, in a colour-shaded hanbok, moulded the lump into a bowl. The wheel played around its axle for every kick it received.
A girl's laughter came from behind. They both turned around, and every time, Yi Jeong barely missed the chance to have a glimpse at the boy's face.
"Orabeoni!" The girl called out. For Yi Jeong, her face was an unrecognizable blur. "Orabeoni!" She giggled again and stretched out a peach tree branch covered with little pink blossoms. (The same shade as of her long jacket and chima.) Yi Jeong scowled and jerked back, attempting to protect himself from the extremely sweet scent. From a corner of his eye, he saw the boy doing the same.
The laughter faded away, yet the sweet scent boldly lingered to him.
Out of nowhere...
"Orabeoni!"
...a high-pitch cry stabbed his ears.
Yi Jeong woke up, damped in sweat and clutching to his heart, tears trickling down his face, with inexplicable pain.
...
...
He had had the same dream, replaying in his sleep, ever since the day she left. With a little extension of course, which felt strange and strangely disturbing and somewhat connected and unconnected, to the latter— to the part he had dreamt before she had left.
It... couldn't be his mind playing tricks on him?
Could it?...
Yi Jeong pulled himself to a sitting position on his bed and combed the mess of his unkempt hair backwards. He attempted on a few deep breaths allowing himself a gulp of air before taking in his surroundings.
Although the room was still pretty much dark, Yi Jeong could tell that it was morning already, thanks to the pale stripe of early winter sunlight, that had escaped the heavy curtains. Yes. He was in his bedroom, though naked (that was explainable) under the white bed covers and with the scent of lavender, stinging his nose instead of the horrifyingly sweet fragrance of peach blossoms.
Tap...
Tap...
Tap...
A long red claw tapped on his bedside cabinet.
'Aigoo... Yi Jeong sunbae...' came a ghostly exclaim. 'Did he dream the same nightmare again? Tsk tsk tsk...'
Yi Jeong turned to his side, where a translucent figure with blood red eyes and glimmering other-light, sat on the edge of his bedside cabinet, staring back at him in utter amusement.
She had the exact same face and petite body of Chu Ga Eul, but Yi Jeong knew it wasn't her. One –because Chu Ga Eul had left the 'company' over an year ago. Two – because the dress this other Ga Eul wore, was far from Chu Ga Eul's imagination and yet her choice. (Imagine long, black and skin-tight with exposed cleavage and cuts at its sides to a dangerous length...)
And the fabric...
Yi Jeong raised an eyebrow.
Latex?...
'Mmhm...' The other Ga Eul nodded. 'Sunbae, Do you like it?' She pouted.
"Aish!" Yi Jeong audibly sighed.
The demon (Gyeoul—as Yi Jung had named her) was what Master's scripts most likely would call Chu Ga Eul's other-self.
(Yi Jeong did not reveal the fact about him being possessed. Instead, he had Master researched on 'demon possessions' and 'switching demons' and found out to be glad about not revealing the fact in the first place. )
'Tell me,' The demon stretched out her leg. Her long claw reached his chin, tilting it slightly upwards. 'You do like me, like this, don't you?'
Yi Jeong sighed, and closed his eyes. "Just, shut up." He said.
The sheets besides him moaned and shifted. Yi Jeong mentally sighed again. This isn't going to be good.
'Neh...' The demon nodded. 'Better be quick, Jeongsshi... or you won't hear an end to her whines...' she pointed at the lump, which rolled under the covers towards him.
Yi Jeong had to agree, though he didn't spell it out from words. If he would linger there any longer, his fling for the weekend would never let him leave without causing any drama. No one had ever let him leave so easily; not without begging him to stay in every possible way they knew...
No one.
Or perhaps, except one...
Yi Jeong shook off the frustrating thoughts and rolled out of his bed.
The demon watched admiringly as he collected his garments and quickly got dressed. For some reason, Yi Jeong didn't feel comfortable under her intense stare.
And for his greatest dismay, no thought of his went unnoticed by her.
Gyeoul smiled, reading his uneasiness. But instead of choosing to tease him with it, she pointed at a dark spot behind his neck.
'It has spread all over ...' She said.
"What?" Yi Jeong turned towards the mirror pulling back his shirt. The demon was right. Behind his neck, across his shoulders, his skin was bruised, turning into a purplish black colour. It was the blight. As he already knew. An effect of being possessed by a demon...
'But I could erase that for you!...' The demon exclaimed. And with a click of her fingers, the bruise vanished.
"Thank you."
"Anything for uri Sunbae..."
Yi Jeong sighed. Of course she would do anything to get his attention; anything and everything to seduce him. Until she had power to do nothing, even as a demon. Sometimes, he wondered what her real intention was—to seduce him or to kill him—as the line between those two was getting vague, day by day.
But before he could say anything else, the sheets shuffled once again on the bed. Seems like Eun Ji would wake up anytime soon.
Eun Ji or was it Eun Jin?...
Yi Jeong shook his head. Whatever it was, he must quickly get out. He hurriedly buttoned his shirt.
The emotional drama was always best to be avoided.
...
...
"To the porridge shop." Yi Jeong said, as he got into the car.
During the most part of the ride, he stayed restrained, cuddled to the corner of his seat while a cardboard box stuffed with all kinds of scrolls and books, sat between him and the non-human girl.
For the most part of the ride, Yi Jeong silently stared out from his window. It was an animated world outside. Busy pedestrians, decorated stalls and lively Seoul—all ready to welcome the new year, while, for Yi Jeong, it was just another night passed and just another day dawned. All the same, as the one before.
It wasn't that the past months hadn't made any difference in his life—Ga Eulyang had moved out, followed by Master, after a few months —not to an undisclosed residence, nor without understandable reasons though, (like how she did) but simply because he wanted to reopen his porridge shop.
"I have all these new ideas!" Yi Jeong could still recall how he had announced, with that sparkle in his tiny eyes on that new year's eve.
"Stupid ideas..." Yi Jeong muttered to himself. At the end it was all pumpkins and abalone.
New year resolutions or whatever they call, Yi Jeong was never able to grasp the means of the 'sting of excitement' everyone else seems to have. His life was stagnant. It had been, and probably will be, till the end.
'_Except for when she left.' The demon interrupted. 'It really did sting, didn't it Sunbae? Not much exciting though, I admit...' She said.
Yi Jeong stared at the girl for a moment before answering.
"You changed the dress?" He asked at the end.
The demon smiled in a Ga Eul-ish way.
'Do you like it?' She asked, looking down at her now shorter dress. (Still skin-tight with off-shoulder neck-line.)
"Pink doesn't suit you." Yi Jeong blankly replied.
'Is it so?... Then...' Her costume faded into a red slip dress with even more exposed cleavage. 'How about now?' she asked.
"Better try changing that face." Yi Jeong looked away, in-part to avoid her stare and in-part to avoid his driver's stare, which reflected through the mirror towards him. Things will get worse, if the word would get to his family, about his one-sided conversations.
They already think he's crazy...
'Anniyo! Sunbae, you are not like that!' The demon mocked Ga Eul's speech. 'How could they even say such things?!'
"Just stop it." Yi Jeong muttered.
And the demon broke into laughter.
That was the way of Gyeoul—cold and seductive.
In fact, Master's scrolls suggested three types of demons, classified according to what they fed on the most. Fed on hatred, fed on fear and fed on lust. While Master assumed that Ga Eul's demon was fed on hatred, Yi Jeong assumed Gyeoul was different. She—he had to admit—seldom annoyed him. But considering how she grew from a subtle whisper under his thoughts in to a full formed demon who could materialize in broad daylight, she was indeed, immensely fed.
Gyeoul... was fed on lust, and Yi Jeong had a thing to blame himself on that.
Gyeoul looked so much like Ga Eul
But yes, she was different.
If Ga Eul was the dazzling autumn, Gyeoul was a lifeless winter...
"Duraenim." The chauffeur interrupted his thoughts. "We have arrived."
...
...
...
"Welco_ Oh, Yi Jeong!" Master froze in mid-bow. "So glad to see you again! " He grinned adjusting his glasses. "Haven't you got even skinnier ?"
Yi Jeong chuckled. "Anniyo. Just missed a few meals, that's it. No waitresses today?" He scanned the shop. "What happened to Ae Ri and Min Ji?"
Master stared at him for a moment. He sure looked like he had missed more than 'a few meals'. But yes, given how he had dodged the question, maybe it wasn't his right to ask.
"I gave them a day-off because it's new year..." he sighed. "And now I have to handle all the customers alone..."
"Mm." Yi Jeong nodded, mentally counting the handful of customers scattered across the room. He placed the box on the counter and went to take a seat himself.
"You really read them?" Master gestured at the box, taking off his glasses and rubbing them on his maroon apron.
"Mm." Yi Jeong nodded.
"All of them? Even the ones in Hanja?"
"Neh." He nodded again, slightly confused. "Oh, and I found a good translator for the ancient scripts..." He stretched out his legs. "... a PhD student at Yonsai..."
"I see." Master muttered. "porridge?" He asked, in a slightly more enthusiastic tone.
"Mm." Yi Jeong smiled. "A pumpkin porridge would be nice."
After about twenty minutes, Master returned with a bowl of steaming pumpkin porridge and its various side dishes. He placed the tray in front of Yi Jeong and sat across him at the table. (Besides Gyeoul—which he didn't know.)
Two long claws reached his cheek and pinched it teasingly. Master gave out a shiver.
"Y-Yi Jeong ah..." He stammered. "I-Is there something besides me?"
Yi Jeong looked up from his porridge nonchalantly. "Um... No?" he raised an eyebrow.
Master shook his head. "I thought it was the ghost from this." He pulled out a woolly handkerchief out from his pocket. "But it's barely noon yet. No ghosts till night" And took a deep breath convincing himself. He unwrapped the cloth revealing a porcelain puzzle piece inside. A few dried seeds from the withered lavender, fell onto the table as he did.
Yi Jeong smirked to his porridge as he heard the demon laugh.
'What a scary cat?' She chuckled.
Still smiling, Yi Jeong looked up at Master.
" Oh, yes! About that... found anything?" He gestured at the puzzle piece.
"Not much." Master shook his head again. "Except for this signature behind it." And turned it around. There, in tiny engraved letters, was a name.
Lee Han Eung
Yi Jeong frowned and stared at the characters for a while. "What about him?" He asked.
"He was a ceramic artist, around the time of Japanese occupation. Not a much celebrated one though, and died at forty, in Japan." Master said. "I suppose this's a souvenir... For a lover maybe?..."
Yi Jeong considered the thought for a while. "That's strange..." He said at the end. "The spectre bound to that was more of the height of a child..."
"A child?"
"Mm." Yi Jeong nodded, but their conversation was interrupted by a call for him. Master went silent, in-part to give Yi Jeong some space, and in-part because of the icy breath that blew against his lips.
Gyeoul enjoyed teasing the poor human.
Yi Jeong grinned, and gestured her not to do so, before standing up, and excusing himself.
"Neh, Mr. Jung." He picked up the call.
"Mwo?! She's refusing to leave?" Yi Jeong rubbed his temples. "Do anything you want. Tell her I'm out of country... or something like that..." He let out an audible exhale, and hung up the call.
Master stared blankly at him for a few seconds even after he returned to his seat. "Is it a girl?" He asked.
"Mm." Yi Jeong said, blocking her number and dismissing all the missed calls from her. They were just together for the weekend, and he had explicitly explained the conditions on beforehand. It really annoyed him when they refused to let go— as if they loved him for anything more than his money or lust.
After the long silence, Master sighed and waved his head in disapproval.
"You know you're being harsh." He said. "More on your own self than all those girls... Don't you think it's better to let go now?"
Yi Jeong smirked. "Hyung, what are you talking about?"
Master sighed. It was useless telling him.
"Nothing." He said. "At least you've had some treatment for that bruise on your neck." He pointed at the little dark spot, just above his shirt collar.
Yi Jeong went a hand towards the blight, glancing at the demon in slight alarm. Gyeoul winked with an assuring nod, and the blight disappeared. Nonetheless the concerned Master continued with his worries.
"I thought it was some kind of a skin cancer, better it wasn't. I was worried it might spread all over your body. On your arms and legs! And what if_"
"_Aharasso then." Yi Jeong stuffed his phone, back to his pocket.
"What?" Master looked up. "You are not leaving already, are you?" He asked, as he stood up.
"There's a new year party at home." Yi Jeong said. "I've got a few things to ready before then."
"Oh." Master sighed. "Take care of yourself, then." He said.
Yi Jeong forced a smile.
"Aharasso."
...
...
...
Ga Eul reached for the upmost shelf and grabbed the glass bottle with the golden tip. She admired it's design and sprayed a bit of perfume to her palm.
Clank...
...
A tinkle of glass interrupted her, just before she could have a sniff.
"Yah! Would you mind where you're going?!"
Ga Eul turned around as the woman at the opposite corner of the shop, yelled at the man who had bumped onto her. Splintered glass, gave out a shimmer under the orange spotlights. Ga Eul saw a silver tipped bottle, shattered in its middle, resting on a tiny puddle of spilled perfume, laid at the her feet. Within a breath or two, strong notes of pink peony and damask rose, conquered the air.
"You! why would you stand right on the middle sniffing cologne?" The man snapped back. "Couldn't you've just stood somewhere else?!"
"Yah!" The woman cried out.
To worsen the things, a salesman approached the two.
"Sir, madam." The younger man bowed. "May I ask, which one of you was going to buy that?"
"Of course it was her! Why would I need to buy that?!"
"Yah!" She rolled her eyes. "Look here. Aren't you the one who broke it?! Besides, why would I need a broken half – spilled?" She puffed her hair and adjusted her fur coat. "Can't you just see? I am a woman with class."
Ga Eul supposed she wasn't lying. Her expensive attire confirmed her right.
Couldn't she have just paid for it?
Bickering for petty matters wasn't the way of wealthy families, was it?...
She wondered, reminiscing a certain chaebol she had known. Ga Eul shook off the thought.
"Ohoh! Yes." The man smirked. "I can most definitely see the 'class' in you! You_"
"_Sir, madam. May I know who's going to pay for that? Miss Dior is one of the most priced products we have."
"You're talking as if I've shoplifted you! Where's the manager? I want to speak to him now!"
Chah-jaesseo... the culprit.
Ga Eul narrowed her eyes as she saw the translucent figure who stood behind the shelf, in his dark robes of ancient clothing with a wide grin playing across his face.
"Baekga." She let out a sigh. It was that ungrateful demon again.
"How may I help you miss?"
"Eh?" Ga Eul flinched. A saleswoman had approached her as well.
She looked down at the perfume in her own hands and the unaffordable price tag around its neck.
"Anniyo!..." Ga Eul let out a nervous chuckle, placing the bottle back on its place. The sales lady bowed and smiled dismissively as she turned around to leave.
By the time Ga Eul reached the exit, the store had been filled with an unpleasant dispute, along with the mutterings and mumblings from the other customers, coated over the hoarse chuckles of a demon.
She took a deep breath from the cool night air, and caught a whiff from the sweet fragrance that had lingered to her palm.
...
Blue and pink neon lights demanding attention on sign boards, brush strokes of yellow and red by speeding vehicles, and silvery fairy lights tossed over the trees on pavements...
Seoul's night...
... was a festival of colours on dark canvas...
Yet they did very little to amuse Ga Eul, who drifted forward through the cheerful crowds, in reserved thoughts with a bag of groceries hanging from her fingers.
If it was Yi Jeong Sunbae... what would he had done?
She wondered.
He was a person with calculated movements... wouldn't just 'bump' into someone, would he?...
Ga Eul paused abruptly. Her sigh drew a cloud on the cold night.
Why was she thinking about him? Again ?
Another cloud rose up to the sky. Perhaps, she shouldn't have entered that cosmetic shop in the first place. As if she could have bought anything! It only stirred unnecessary memories...
Yes. Unnecessary...
The memories—like how shocked Master was, when she first announced her decision in Andong, and how silent Yi Jeong was, when he stared at her in that summer evening. Of course he had tried his best to keep her. Five teas went cold as they went in circles with her reasons, and finally an angry Yi Jeong stood up and left, leaving the bill to her (she was later reimbursed though.) And how distant and polite they both were, when the day got nearer. Finally, when the time came, it was only Master who was there to bid her farewell, no Yi Jeong. He hasn't even asked where she was going to live, or how she would manage things. He had simply let her go.
So called soulmate...
Ga Eul smirked at the tiny part of her which believed it. At the end, she was right to leave them. She wanted to focus on her own self, and she had done so far.
She had managed to rent a goshiwon, (cheap, yes, but enough.) in an unsophisticated area, only a few blocks away from her university. The savings from her past cases with Yi Jeong —the twenty percent share from the 'complimentary offerings' (which sometimes included brand new sports cars and luxurious apartments, which they had sold for good)—funded her tuition. She studied hard and worked at a chicken restaurant on weekends. In the meantime, she solved little cases involving the dead. All of them giving enough to cover her daily needs.
If Ga Eul was honest with herself, the cases were what still kept her amused. She was valued and felt proud of her independent self, especially on times like when she helped their neighbour, the owner of the Coffee shop, to find his spare key, which was hidden under a cracked tile in his kitchen. A retired barista had had it with him, who had passed away, a month before. Ga Eul had located his source—which was a battered tea cup— inside a cupboard in the kitchen and contacted the ghost and placed the key. And that once she uncovered the Gweng family maid who had stolen her mistress's necklace? Mimi— the family's puppy—had always followed the suspected maid after the disappearance of the said necklace, but had mysteriously died from food poisoning a few days later. Ga Eul had followed the ghost of the little creature into the maids room, and it had led her to her wardrobe, where she found a suitcase with an extra layer of fabric at its bottom. The necklace was found underneath it. There were a good deal of cases—like that young CEO of the HK group who wanted to know if his dead girlfriend would have said yes to his proposal if he had had the chance to ask her, and that delivery boy, who had died over-worked, but came seeking for Ga Eul to ask (through Baekga) if she could deliver the medicines to the old granny at Namsan and complete his final task...
There were a lot, and Ga Eul was becoming more and more popular amongst the dead every day. They would have crowded her tiny goshiwon if not for her loyal door keeper—Mr. Paws—a cat, whom as a kitten, she had found in a dumpster. Ever since then, he was living with her, providing her with company.
The point was— she was fine. She was doing alright, without them. So the memories were indeed, unnecessary.
'Except that you like him...'
Ga Eul went still. She didn't have to bother turn around, to recognize that annoying voice.
"Baekga." She closed her eyes.
'A bit of nostalgia we have here, don't we?' The demon materialized before her.
'Perhaps the pretty boy might have bought it for you if you had asked him... That's why I told you! Seize the chance when you have it! You should have at least asked for lingerie... He would have been very pleased to buy them... As a retirement gift...' He grinned, exposing his blackened teeth.
Ga Eul smiled in return. "I thought I'd left you at the shop. What? Did the mighty demon get bored causing petty fights on street?" She said, unaffected.
'Petty?! That wasn't petty at all! I was stirring their deepest emotions, sincerest desires and darkest secrets... lying in the depths of their hearts li_..'
"...like glistening ember under a dying fire." Ga Eul completed. "Yes. You have told that before. A few times by now. And that's what I call petty—having to depend on others, when the 'mighty' demon has vessel of his own." Ga Eul said. She smiled and casually passed through him, and headed towards her apartment building.
A few steps gone forward, Ga Eul felt numb on her knees. She tripped on something, stumbled and fell on all four.
"Baekga!" she scowled as she heard the ghostly cackle.
'Told you not to mess with your master!' The ghostly laughter continued.
"You are... agh! ...not my master anymore!" Ga Eul grumbled back to her feet. "You don't even have my heart!"
The laughter stopped as the demon fell into silence for a minute. 'I do have it.' He said at the end.
"I don't see it." Ga Eul snapped back.
'That's because you're ignorant.'
Ga Eul rolled her eyes and turned to leave.
'You're forgetting something...' The voice stirred again. ' There's a precious artefact, right beneath your feet... Another community service request...'
She paused, and lifted her shoe. Underneath it, was a puzzle piece covered in tiny spikes of ice. When her fingers touched its surface, a series of emotions passed through her, followed by the sounds: a man's laughter, a child's laughter, the same child crying, and dead silence—like the one after a scream.
'Looks like someone has refurbished their living... probably couldn't have placed where the miesma was coming from...' He gestured at the bunch of ornaments tossed into the dumpster.
Ga Eul picked up the puzzle piece and looked around. A few meters away, in a dark corner of the alley, was a spectre of a man, writhing and briefly flashing in and out. Faint dark circles marked hollow eyes and a gaped mouth on his face.
"What do you think he want?" Ga Eul turned to the demon.
'To find his child.' He replied. 'He had promised to come see him on every new year. Wasn't able to keep it until death...'
Ga Eul went thoughtful.
"His child?"
'Mm. He has got the other piece.'
–to be continued.